Guiding Principles
& Beliefs
At R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company we operate our business in a responsible manner that best balances the desires of our many stakeholders. The Guiding Principles and Beliefs set out below seek to reflect the interests of adult tobacco consumers, employees and other stakeholders.
Tobacco Use & Health
Cigarette smoking is a leading preventable cause of death. Quitting cigarette smoking significantly decreases the risk for lung cancer, heart disease, chronic bronchitis, emphysema and other serious diseases and conditions.
Cigarette smokers who want to quit should do so, and all smokers should have access to information about the benefits of quitting and effective cessation products that may help them.
No tobacco product has been shown to be safe or risk-free, but the type of tobacco product used, how long it is used, and the frequency and amount of use significantly affect the risk of serious diseases.
Nicotine in tobacco products is addictive.
Long-term studies (epidemiology) have established that smoking is the highest-risk form of tobacco use, and that smokeless tobacco products, including moist snuff and snus, present significantly less risk of serious diseases, including oral cancer, than smoking cigarettes.
We believe that vapor products and other noncombustible tobacco products may present less risk to adult tobacco consumers than smoking cigarettes. Although these products have not been used by consumers for a sufficient period of time to develop definitive scientific conclusions about their level of risk reduction, there is a growing body of scientific evidence that these products may present less risk than smoking. While some studies report that there may be health risks associated with these products, those risks appear to be lower than the risks of smoking cigarettes.
Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products approved for smoking cessation present less risk than smoking. We believe that similar noncombustible tobacco products also present less risk than smoking.
Governments, public health officials and tobacco manufacturers share a responsibility to provide accurate, useful information to adult tobacco consumers about the differing levels of risk between different types of tobacco and nicotine products.
Tobacco Harm Reduction
Reducing disease and death associated with cigarette smoking is in the best interest of not only adult tobacco consumers, but society as well. The best way for smokers to achieve these risk reductions is to quit. Smokers who don’t want to quit tobacco altogether should consider switching to tobacco products that may present less risk to their health.
Policies that encourage cigarette smokers to switch to products that are or may be less risky should be added to the traditional public-health efforts aimed at reducing the number of people who smoke.
There is a growing body of scientific evidence that vapor and other noncombustible tobacco products may present significantly less risk than smoking. While some studies report that there may be health risks associated with these products, we believe those risks are lower than the risks of smoking cigarettes.
Manufacturers of cigarettes, smokeless tobacco products, vapor products and other noncombustible tobacco products should be encouraged to research and develop innovative products that may present less risk than smoking cigarettes.
Links to the websites of the Surgeon General and other public health officials are provided below.
The Health Benefits of Smoking Cessation
Previous Surgeon General’s Reports
The Health Consequences of Using Smokeless Tobacco
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The links on this page are provided as a convenience, but R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company is not responsible for the content on the linked websites. The statements and views available on those sites do not necessarily represent the views of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company or its management.
Tobacco Regulation & Communication
Tobacco products should be regulated in a way that is designed to achieve significant and measurable reductions in the health risks associated with cigarette smoking.
The level of regulation should be proportional to the level of risk a tobacco product presents. Preferential treatment (taxation, marketing, consumer communication, labeling, etc.) should be given to tobacco products that may present less risk than cigarettes.
Regulations should require that adult tobacco consumers be given accurate information so that they can make informed choices about the type of product they choose to use, and ways they could lower risks to their health.
Communication and interaction with adult tobacco consumers regarding their brand and product choices is essential for effective competition, but the marketing of tobacco products should not target youth, or adults who don’t currently use tobacco or nicotine products.
Tobacco Consumers
The best course of action for tobacco consumers concerned about their health is to quit.
Cigarette smokers who don’t quit altogether should have access to a range of tobacco and nicotine products that may lower their health risks.
Individuals should rely on the U.S. Surgeon General, government agencies and the public health community for information about the risks of tobacco use, the benefits of quitting, and the potential benefits of switching to products that are or may be less risky than cigarettes.
Governments and public health officials should be required to communicate accurate, useful information about the comparative health risks between smoking and the use of vapor and other noncombustible tobacco products so that adult tobacco consumers can make informed decisions.
Cigarette smokers should avoid exposing youth and nonsmokers to secondhand smoke.
Underage individuals should never use tobacco products, and adults who don’t use tobacco or have quit tobacco should not start.